Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold II Brushes

Winsor & Newton's Sceptre Gold II brushes combine sable hair with a special blend of synthetic fibers to produce a brush that approaches the performance of pure sable, yet at a moderate price! Sceptre Gold II brushes are available in different styles (long and short handle) to accommodate both oil and watercolor painters.

Each Sceptre Gold II brush has a copper-colored handle and a seamless, gold-colored ferrule.

Pointed Round, Series 101 — The Series 101 Round is the original Round in the Sceptre Gold line, perfect for high detail work. It's the watercolorists version of the Sceptre Gold Round, with a short lacquered handle.

Designer Round, Series 202 — Available only in select sizes, the Series 202 Designer Round is a narrow belly version of the Series 101 Round. It's a traditional format for a watercolor detail brush, but it can be used for detail work in any media.

Rigger, Series 303 — A "Rigger" is the name originally given to brushes that were used for painting the rigging on ships in seascape paintings. Series 303 is a short handle pointed round brush with long springy fiber.

Long Handle Round, Series 404 — The Series 404 Round is an oil painter's version of the original Series 101 Round, with a long lacquered handle. It's a style traditionally used by oil painters who stand to paint using an easel.

Flat Wash — With thicker hair to hold more water-based color, and a shorter handle, the Flat Wash is a version of the square wash for creating watercolor wash effects.

Note — Brush sizes are not standardized. The length and width of a brush of a given shape and size varies considerably by manufacturer. Since fine art brushes are hand crafted, expect some variation even among brushes from a given manufacturer.

The No. 14 lost hairs the first several times that I used it. More important is the fact that this brush does not come to a fine point. I use it as a mop brush. Overpriced; I have better large synthetic brushes at half the price.

I've been painting in watercolor for over forty years and have used every type of brush from oxhair (sentimental favorite) to Kolinsky sable(too delicate)to synthetic (great snap and pointing, but doesn't hold a lot of paint or water), and I have found these brushes to be the best combination of all of the above: great snap and holds plenty of water and color, and durable. They feel "right" in the hand too, so far as balance and construction. True, they lose a few hairs on the first few uses, but my ultra-expensive Kolinsky brushes did too, as well as my oxhairs. Really enjoy using them. They were recommended to me by my mentor years ago; he was using the original Sceptre brushes.

Sceptre Gold is a great value and a well-constructed product. I use the flats for soft blends in oil painting and they work like a charm. I like the results better than what I was getting with the real sable flat brushes that I have. I am very glad to have discovered this brand!

I bought several of these brushes looking for a cheaper alternative to full sable brushes, but I guess you get what you pay for.

I paint highly detailed oil paintings and these brushes performed so horribly that I didn't even bother to clean them and just threw them away.

The tips of the hairs on the flats look like they are cut off with a guillotine, and the filberts look like an underage monkey assembled them between snack breaks.

If you paint thick, and have no care how a stroke looks, or blends with another maybe you can use them, but for a few bucks more you get a decent brush like the Escoda Kolinsky Sable that outperforms these in every way.

The brush, a size 12, round, was purchased from Blick on 12/15/2012. Since the last review, it has been used five more times, and it continues to loose three to five bristles with each use. This is disappointing, because I really like the brush. The brush has been used exclusively for watercolor.

I have used this brush three times now and am impressed with it. It has just the right snap and holds a lot of water/paint. I especially like the way the brush delivers its load of paint; it is identical to a sable brush in this respect. One negative I have noticed is the loss of several bristles with each use. If this doesn't continue, this is a great brush; if it continues, it may be a real issue. My recommendation it tentative based on the the bristle loss.

I bought about ten Sceptre Gold II brushes about four years ago, and I use them in every painting (oil paint, only) now mostly for blending and some finishing detail or glazing work. They're really an ideal blend because pure sable would have lost it's spring long ago. Granted, they are not nearly as responsive as they were four years ago, but still very usable. The rounds still come to a very sharp point, too. You can paint big or small with one #8 round. Tip: Always dry your brushes with the tips pointing down after washing in soap and warm water. (Rubber band them together and hang the band on your easel with the tips hanging down until dry.) This prevents the handle from swelling and cracking the enamel.

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